Brief

Ashgrove had previously worked with Boston on an interim update for its brand positioning and branding elements, but this brief was to take things to the next level and underpin Boston as a serious and confident player in the world of the high net worth individuals and their associated intermediaries.

Approach

We first conducted our standard “soak & scope” sessions to discuss and challenge Boston about the perceptions and realities of their business. This led to the creation of several mood boards to define the brand image they would like to project and a presentation of two suggested strategic positioning directions to all staff to ensure everyone was on the journey before we started any creative design.

A number of creative solutions were explored but, in the end, there was only one that would deliver. This creative direction also demanded a brave client to trust us to deliver the goods as the concept could not be achieved using stock photography or cutting any corners in the production values of the visual treatment but required a photoshoot of its own. In order to stretch the budget, we did the shoot in Cape Town with a renowned local fashion photographer who managed to cram a seven-location shoot schedule into an impressive five days. This was followed by some intense postproduction work to refine and perfect the additional visual effects.

Outcome

Just like a fine meal, this campaign was successful because of all the fresh ingredients, starting with a client who bought into the creative vision and trusted us to make it happen. Followed by all the amazing professionals along the way – photographer, models, postproduction graphics, copywriter and finally our creative director, Leigh, who was uncompromising in the execution of her vision.

Even after several years the client is still enthusiastic about the campaign and that is underscored by their clients’ positive feedback and comments. Boston Multi Family Office remains on a growth trajectory year on year.